Deeper Truths: A study featuring lessons from Kenneth Bailey’s book, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes
A 12-week study: This on 27 May 2026
Lesson 12: The Parables of Jesus (pt 3 of 3)
To watch the video: https://youtu.be/wxIjIUhd_IQ
Introduction
Tonight we conclude two things. One our 3-week series on the Parables of Jesus. And we conclude our 12-week deep dive into the subjects and commentary of Kenneth Bailey regarding culture and Christianity, through his magnus opus, the book Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes. I’ve deeply enjoyed preparing our lessons and hope that if God gives us time again down the road that we will each have grown in our walk with him, in our confidence in his love and care, and the desire to share his good love with those around us.
Tonight we will dig into four more of the parables including my favourite of all time, but first let’s get to these shocking and startling turnarounds, that teach us one major theme each and try to learn what God has for us today. Buckle your seat belt… this teaching tonight is worth it all.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18.9-14)
When I say the word ‘Pharisee’ honestly, what is your first thought? If you are sitting an exam and there are no consequences of information being leaked back to you, an anonymous exam, your first thought on the word ‘pharisee…’ what is it? Hypocrite, religious show off, smug, up himself. OK, I get it. And this parable in Luke 18 represents everything you might think is accurate about your preconception. In Russian, the word фарисей literally refers to a member of an ancient Jewish sect. Figuratively, it is used in Russian as a derogatory term for a hypocrite, sanctimonious person, or phoney. But as you have come to understand from me and those whom I cite, shock and surprise is what you should expect.
My friend and internationally recognized scholar Amy-Jill Levine strongly argues that Christians have often misread this parable by turning the Pharisee into a cartoon villain, and the tax collector into an obvious hero. Her concern is that centuries of preaching unintentionally created anti-Jewish stereotypes.
Levine points out that Pharisees were generally respected, charitable, serious about Torah and compliance, and admired for their piety. When the Pharisee says that he fasts twice a week, tithes, and avoids exploitation, he may be telling the truth. The wrong caricature of his person is a result of anti-Jewish hypocrisy by those who allege their submission to Jesus.
In contrast, tax collectors were commonly associated with collaboration with Rome, exploitation, corruption, and financial abuse. So, Jesus’ audience may initially distrust him. That makes the parable more shocking. Levine sees the twist in the story as being very powerful for she warns Christians not to become “proud that we are not like the Pharisee.” In other words: the parable can become self-defeating if readers congratulate themselves for being humbler. That irony is very important in her interpretation. Levine notes that the Pharisee’s fatal issue is not piety itself —but comparison. His prayer defines himself over against others. The problem is not Torah observance. The problem is self-exaltation.
No matter which parable she unpacks, or that Bromberg or Brother Anthony discuss, each commentator tries to restore the discomfort. They want readers to ask, “Why does this story bother me? Which character do I instinctively judge? What assumptions am I bringing?
For Jesus, parables are not safe moral tales. They are designed to expose us.
This parable is introduced by Luke with classic clarity. “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.” (Luke 18.9) Or as Levine said, “The problem is self-exaltation.”
The Pharisee was praying by himself, although in the company of others. That’s a clue to his ‘withdrawal.’ His prayer is none of the three types of prayers that are common in those days. 1) Asking for forgiveness for sins committed, 2) Thanking God for his supply and 3) Petitioning him for circumstances or others. None of his statements are any of those. Sounds like something Isaiah would have decried.
Look at Isaiah’s description of those who compare.“I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke Me to My face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My 1nostrils, a fire that burns all day.” (65.1-5)
Doing righteous is what God wants. Winning the Champion Right Person is NOT what God wants. We are not competing against each other. We are called to help one another to assist, to love and bear the burdens of one another.
We all run the race so that we win. (1 Cor. 9.24) Paul wrote the Corinthians, “For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.” (2 Cor. 10.12) And again, “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Cor. 10.17)
Stop trying to out-do each other, or that your church is better than their church. Don’t be holy if you think it’s about obedience contests. Bring others with you.
What was the surprise in the story? That the tax collector who was “standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (.13)
The Greek, as Bailey points out, is even stronger than the ordinary word for mercy. The tax collector asks God to “make atonement for me.” He is admitting that even if he tried to perform righteousness, or a righteous act, he simply needs God to make it happen.
For the tax collector, as we have seen with Zaccheus or even in the Birth narrative listing of the genealogy, when a tax collector admits he is unworthy in himself, that’s when God can declare of him, “this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (.14)
The people who heard Yeshua speak this parable were shocked. Tax collector saved and declared justified rather than a Pharisee. Surprise!
The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12.16-21)
Next, we look at the parable in Luke 12 about the Rich Fool. But as usual, the parable is introduced by a slight narrative. “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” (Luke 12.13-15)
That phrase, “Who appointed me a judge” … have you heard it before? Yes, back in Exodus at the introduction to the Jewish people of the 40-year-old Moses. We read that a Jewish slave said to Moses, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (2.14)
Remember Stephen in his sermon before he was martyred quoted this phrase as well. “On the following day Moses appeared to two Jewish slaves who “were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ But the one who was injuring his neighbour pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us’?” (Acts 7.26-27) This quote highlights the initial rejection of Moses by his own people; a key point Stephen used in his speech to the Sanhedrin to draw a parallel between how the Israelites rejected Moses and how they ultimately rejected Jesus.
Here Yeshua uses that phrase. He again is giving a zets, a spiritual prod to say both that he IS the judge and ruler and asking this fellow “Why are you asking me this?’ It reminds me of the ‘Why do you call me good?” (Mark 10.18) The question everyone must answer, each person on this zoom call, each person watching this teaching on YouTube, each person in our sphere of influence, “Who is Jesus?” or “Who do you think Jesus is?”
The narrative shows a heckler in the crowd demanding that Yeshua tell his brother to divide the family inheritance. Some say, “Where there is a will, there’s a way” but this man would have said, “Where there’s a will, there is a lot of hungry relatives.”
Who is this heckler? He’s the younger brother in a story and he is demanding that Jesus intervene to fix a problem. His older brother, who is almost always the executor of any will in an inheritance claim, has not yet apportioned the estate. This annoys the man. Why? Because equity is not established? Or is it simply that he wants what is due him? I think it’s the latter.
American billionaire industrialist John D. Rockefeller famously gave this answer. When asked by a reporter, "How much money is enough?" he reportedly replied, "Just a little bit more."
This man who is demanding what he calls justice from Yeshua is in the crowd. What crowd is that? The one where Luke earlier said, “they were stepping on one another.” (Luke 12.1)
Oh, one more thing. Jesus himself gives the background of the parable. He says in verse 15: “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
OK, that’s all the intro to the parable. Wow, what will we find in the story itself? Justice? Riches? Obligations? Disbursements? Let’s see.
We see a scene labelled “Covetousness denounced” in the section’s title in my Bible. Is that what we should learn and mark and inwardly digest?
The man in the parable is already rich. He has even had a substantial crop again this year and wants to build a bigger silo to hold it all. Surplus is good, sharing might be a great thing. But this man is not interested in that aspect of wealth.
St Augustine said of the rich fool, “He did not realise that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns.” The Bible says he “consulted with himself.” (.17) That’s an off thing to say. Consultation is a very good thing, and I do it with many and many include me in their considerations of life. The Proverbs say, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” (12.15)
So, what is this man’s self-counsel? Tear down the current silos and then start to build new ones. There, that’s sorted. And then he will say to himself that his time to rest has come and he should ‘eat, drink and be merry.’ That phrase didn’t originate with Yeshua. It was four times in Ecclesiastes, which makes great sense. Also, it was found in Judges 19, Tobit, and Sirach 11. (Eccl 2:24; 3:13; 5:18; 8:15; Judges 19:4–9; Tob 7:10; cf Isa 22:13 [= 1 Cor 15:32]; Sir 11:19)
Whatever else is happening in this parable, it’s clear that the surprise is twofold. 1) Everything this crowd thinks is honourable and enviable is labelled folly by the Lord. God said to him, “You fool” (.20) But there is a 2nd takeaway. Storing up goods for yourself is in exact opposition to the plan and purpose of God.
Amy-Jill highlights the isolation of the rich man and shows it in a chart. The rich man uses the word ‘my’ four times. (Crops, barns, grain, goods) Then Levine highlights how profoundly self-centred the language is. The man lives in a universe with no neighbour, poor, family, gratitude and no God either.
Then let’s see what Yeshua says AFTER the parable. His conclusion if you will. What he wants you to takeaway.
“And He said to His disciples, ‘For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” (.22-32)
Seek and do not be afraid. Both of those are accurate. But what is it you are seeking? What do you really want on the bucket list of your life? Another trip to Europe and this time in a 5-star hotel and cruise ship? Is it to eat, drink and be merry with others, even sometimes flaunting your blessings? The people of the world have a #1 criticism of every televangelist whom they lump together into a group of charlatans. Their complaint? Finances spent on themselves.
Listen, if you seek, you will find. But Yeshua teaches us to seek God’s kingdom, and all these things will be added to us. What things? All that we need, not necessarily all we want. All we lust for? Nope—but yes to what we need.
One of Levine’s recurring themes is wealth can shrink moral imagination. The man literally cannot think beyond himself. The tragedy is not merely greed —it is spiritual isolation.
The Psalmist leads us in a song, “As the deer pants for the waters, so my soul longs after thee. My soul thirsts for the living God.” (Psalm 42.1-2)
The Psalmist again teaches us, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37.4). Take that wrong and you will be eating and drinking and making merry. Take that right and you will find your pleasure and delight in being with Jesus. When you get that right, you will be given the desires of your heart—which is ‘my soul thirsts for the Living God!” Delight yourself in flesh, and you will get it, but it doesn’t satisfy. Solomon knew that. David knew that. I know that. What do you know?
The body is more than meat and drink. The soul is more than riches. Seek first God’s kingdom and his being right, then you will have your priorities straight. And then the Father can delight to give you the kingdom.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13)
Our third parable tonight is in the chapter of all parables, Matthew 13. The chapter with the one you must know, or you don’t know any of them. That required reading is the Parable of the Soils, or as Yeshua called it the Parable of the Sower. So said Brother Anthony in The Bread of God, and so said Yeshua in Mark. (4.13)
The simplest reading of the parable which is only 63 English words in my Bible is about little things growing. Is that all this is?
He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matt. 13.31-32)
So, this is not a parable about a person or interpersonal relationships. It’s about the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom which the Father delights to give us as his children, is like a mustard seed. A small seed. Is it the smallest of all seeds worldwide? They have no doubt found other plants that arise out of seeds much smaller than the mustard seed. But the point of the parable, or any parable as you will remember, is to stress one issue so that people will get it right, like those who heard “Love one another” from the Apostle John.
Amy-Jill highlights the mustard plant as being often unwanted, since it’s often invasive and disruptive. Like a modern hydrangea, I guess. Certainly, it can be a beautiful plant as they are in my yard even today. But they don’t stay little and they overpower some of the other plants in the garden. The kingdom of heaven is like the seed of the mustard plant. It’s not going to stay quiet. It’s not going to remain in its little patch; it’s going to grow and become ample.
The surprise is that the community of faith, nicknamed here the Kingdom of heaven, will not stay quiet and will not be containable. Nothing can prevent its growth. Nothing can kill it. God will sustain and make his way known on the earth.
What about this story is disruptive and surprising? I would say it’s that the kingdom the Jews were awaiting was private and could remain in its place whether in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) or anywhere in the Roman empire.
Later in Matthew’s gospel he records these words of Jesus,
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17.19-21)
Where the King is, there is the Kingdom. And the King rules and makes his way known. Nothing can control him. Only a lack of faith can prevent him temporarily, “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” (Isa. 14.27)
The triangle of faith involves three body parts (Mouth, Ears, Heart). Our mouth speaks and our ears hear. Then when our ears hear, our heart and its response (faith) increases as well. Faith comes by hearing. Faith is that part of the fruit of the Spirit which carries us through the lot. Fruit can grow; it’s not static. It’s not permanently in one fixture. How does it grow? By hearing. (Galatians 5.22-23, Romans 10.9-10)
The Parable of the Prodigal Father (Luke 15)
Finally, my favourite parable of all. In Luke 15, Yeshua gives us three back-to-back-to-back stories of lost things. A coin, a sheep, and a family. The main words not to miss are laced after the first and second stories. After finding the sheep, we read “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (.7)
Then after the unnamed woman finds the missing coin, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (.10)
But I’ve tried to teach you the last 3 months not to miss something when you read. And each commentator whom I quote wants us not to miss the context either. So read verses one and two of Luke 15, then we will go on.
“Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
It was considering that gathered community that Yeshua initiated these three stories. The crowd was divided. Some wanted to hear and learn; others had already made up their mind. The listeners didn’t know what was ahead, but they were gaining a measure of trust in him. The opponents were offended by his congregation, as if they didn’t deserve him, or maybe he was tainted by being with them. Either way, the opponents had stopped listening in faith but were listening to catch him out. Yeshua used the parable to come to clarify that division and to plug the ears that were already not listening.
Now as to the stories. Each of the three stories was about loss and each about finding. Simple. OK. Maybe a children’s book would end this as if it were a morality play with “so keep looking and you will find what you are seeking.” A football coach might use these stories to say, “Never give up.”
But when I read one of the daily meditations from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest this week, I heard what I think Yeshua wants us to hear. Chambers was commenting on the passage from Revelation
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. (1:17) Chambers wrote this. “It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. “He laid His right hand on me…” (Revelation 1:17 ). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
“Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up, it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.” That from 24 May in My Utmost for his highest.
Despair, is that what the younger son felt? Is that why he rehearsed his lines while in the pigpen saying, “I’m not worthy”? Worth, that human self-evaluation, is never properly defined by what others say about us. That’s the pitfall, the danger into which the Pharisees fell. Letting others define who we are and …here’s the other wrong, defining ourselves without checking in with what God says about himself and us… that’s when our worth is warped. Wrong self-evaluation is what got the younger brother out of the house in the first place (I deserve everything and want no relationship with Dad) AND what got him in the wrong place in the pigpen (I’m not worthy). What you deserve is your self-evaluation. But listen, what you deserve without God is the pigpen, and what deserve with God is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Yeshua said in the earlier parable about the Rich Fool, “Little children, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12.32) It is yours. Because of Yeshua. Relax. Don’t stress. His yoke is easy; his burden is light. Yes, it’s a yoke. Yes, it’s a burden. But not a heavy one. Smile, you are forgiven.
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There have been many times when I demanded of God. Like the younger son I said, “Give me” (.12) what is mine. He’s telling his dad that he prefers he was dead. He wanted the father’s stuff, but not the Father. Only when I came to the agony of despair did I wake up in my own pigpen and move from ‘give me’ to ‘make me’ (.19). Knowing the Father is the one who has, and the one who can make us again into his image, that’s the Gospel story. He wants to give us the Kingdom. He wants to make us into his image. He wants to transform us by the power of the Spirit.
The elder brother is smug and up himself. He is a religious devotee. He is a ‘goodie two-shoes’ as the saying goes. And dear friends on this Zoom call, I am often throughout my life that elder brother. I look at sinners and turn away. I look at brothers and sisters in their distress and fail to stand with them. They are hurting, lost, self-consumed and I turn away? How is that right?
The elder brother should care for his younger sibling. When the younger one was wayward and living a prodigal life (that is, lavish) on prostitutes, the elder brother should have been watching by the window nightly. When the younger one returned, the older should have run to meet him. Here’s another family, like we saw earlier tonight, broken and needing the Kingdom of heaven. IS there hope for them?
Yes, there is. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19.10) The kingdom of heaven is like the lost sheep, being found. It’s like the lost coin, being sought and found. It’s like the lost sons, both, one lost in wayward living and the other lost in religious dignity and smug self-reliance. God had to break them both down.
The elder brother yelled at his dad and called his brother, “That son of yours.” (.30) So distant. So removed. So lost. Now, the Father appeals to the elder, he was lost and now is found.
We don’t see the end of the parable. There is, as often happens, no summary, no scene shift where we learn the result in the life of the elder brother.
You see, this is how the surprise works. When the wayward prodigal son comes home and the Father welcomes him, that’s a surprise to the religious among Jesus’ listeners. When the same Father corrects the elder brother who seems left out of the celebration by his own inaction and argument, we hear the great turnabout, that seems to speak against the religious in the day.
The end of the story? That gets to be lived out in you. The hearer. What will you do with the Father of mercy? What will you do with the Kingdom of God?
The proof is in the pudding, of your own life. He who has ears to hear, let him hear, and let him practice. The rest is up to you.
Conclusion of the Series
Dear friends, we have studied the person of Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes and are deeply grateful for the insights and the challenges of our main author, Kenneth Bailey, who passed away 10 years ago. We have been helped by the insights of commentators like Amy-Jill Levine, Craig Blomberg, Brother Anthony, Phillip Yancey, and Dane Ortlund. And when we experienced the grappling, the wrestling with the issues these authors raised, and listened to each other’s questions and comments in the afterglow nicknamed the Q and A after each lecture, we kept unpacking what God wanted us to learn. Therefore, we are glad and improved.
May it be that as we continue to have takeaways from lectures, from our own church Bible study groups, from our personal quiet times with the Lord, from Bob’s YouTube channel—that we will join the words of Thomas Cranmer in the XVI, who wrote in the Book of Common Prayer, "Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."
Final Summary Thoughts from tonight:
1) Parables are a great study to remind us of God’s thinking about certain people and populaces in Israel and in our days. They are timeless and cross racial and all sociological barriers.
2) Be careful; they bite. Parables are not safe moral tales; they are designed to expose us!
3) Commit to continue to learn and to be challenged by God to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
4) You should seek justice and pursue it. Always for others. Let God care for you; seek first God’s kingdom which he delights to give you. Help others live there.
5) Finally, be the younger prodigal son. Not that you should go and live in a pigpen and in wayward living. But rather admit that you are broken and needy. Call upon him while he is near. Say, “Make me” and not “Give me.” Like the blind man of John 9, say, “Who is he Lord that I may worship him?” And then go and do likewise.
Finally, tonight, after our normal endings, we had a quick question come in about my job. Am I a pastor? An evangelist? A missionary? Yes, I’m all those things. I share Christ with unbelievers, so I’m an evangelist. I was sent out, like an apostle, the closest word for missionary in Bible days, an ambassador of the Kingdom. What about pastor? Sure, I care for God’s flock in all circumstances. I’m not a local leader of a local assembly, but I fulfill God’s call to be empathetic and to pray, to oversee and to teach the Word with all hope and diligence.
However, in modern terms, no, I’m not a pastor of a local church. No, I’m not a visiting evangelist who conducts a week-long crusade in a local church. No, I’m not a missionary who travels to poor places in Africa and builds wells. I’m a worker for the Lord and whatever title people want to give me, so be it. I introduce myself as Bob. That’s good enough for me. The title ‘Ambassador’ is on my name card. And may it be that when people hear from me that they are hearing the very words of The One whom I represent.
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Bibliography: All Recommended Books
Anthony, Brother, The Bread of God, Vantage Press, 1975.
Bailey, Kenneth, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, IVP, 2008.
Boice, James Montgomery, The Parables of Jesus, Moody 2016.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Life Together, Harper One, 1978.
Blomberg, Craig. Jesus and the Gospels, B&H Academic, 2022.
Blomberg, Craig, Interpreting the Parables, IVPress, 1990.
Chambers, Oswald, My Utmost for his highest, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1935.
Comer, John Mark, Practicing the Way, Penguin/Random, 2024.
Hamilton, Adam, Faithful: Christmas through Joseph, 2022.
Jackson, Dave and Neta, Living Together in a world falling apart, Castle Rock, 1974.
Keller, Tim, The Prodigal God, Penguin Books, 2011.
Levine, Amy-Jill, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, HarperOne, 2014.
Levine, Amy-Jill, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, HarperOne, 2007.
Levine, Amy-Jill, Who is my Neighbour? Flyaway Books, 2019.
Nee, Watchman. Sit, Walk, Stand. CRC. 1970.
Nouwen, Henri, The Return of the Prodigal Son, Darton Longman and Todd, 1994
Ortlund, Dane, Gentle and Lowly, Crossway, 2010
Snodgrass, Klyne, Stories with intent. Eerdmans, 2009.
Wright, Christiopher, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. IVP Academic. 1995.
Yancey, Philip, What’s so amazing about Grace? Zondervan1997
These were the Parables we unpacked in our series
1. The 10 Virgins
2. The Widow and the judge
3. The Good Samaritan
4. The Soils
5. The Employer
6. The Two builders
7. The Great banquet
8. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9. The Rich Fool
10. The Mustard Seed
11. The Prodigal Father and his sons
For the videos of this series, see Bob’s YouTube channel playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCYwmcnbi7TD0urk3QbUYeDSc9Dy0LIKv
For the manuscripts of all 12 lectures, see Bob’s Blog and start here:
https://bob-mendelsohn.blogspot.com/2026/02/deeper-truths-12-week-study-this-is-1.html All 12 are on my Blog.
All the Bible Verses mentioned in the series
Older Testament
Genesis 3.15
Genesis 16.11
Genesis 22
Genesis 30.11
Genesis 44.8
Exodus 2.14
Exodus 6.12
Exodus 30:17-21
Exodus 31.18
Leviticus 15.25-30
Leviticus 19.14-18
Numbers 12.14
Numbers 16.46-49
Numbers 23.19
Numbers 32.23
Deuteronomy 10.12
Deuteronomy 19.15
Deuteronomy 28.28, 47
Deuteronomy 30.11-14
Deuteronomy 33.27
Judges 11.30, 39-40
Judges 19
1 Samuel 1
1 Samuel 28.24
Esther 4.16
Psalm 1.1-6
Psalm 24.1
Psalm 37.4
Psalm 42.1-2
Psalm 63.1
Psalm 73.25
Psalm 99.3
Psalm 100.2
Psalm 118.8
Psalm 130.3-4
Proverbs 10.1
Proverbs 12.15
Ecclesiastes 2.24
Ecclesiastes 3:13
Ecclesiastes 5.2, 18
Ecclesiastes 7.20
Ecclesiastes 8.15
Isaiah 6.8-10
Isaiah 14.27
Isaiah 25.6-12
Isaiah 26.3
Isaiah 28.14-18
Isaiah 35.5-6
Isaiah 40-66
Isaiah 41
Isaiah 56.7
Isaiah 65.1-5
Jeremiah 17.13
Ezekiel 20.39
Hosea 11.9
Amos 9
Micah 6.8
Zechariah 9.9
Newer Testament
Matthew 2.15
Matthew 4:18–22
Matthew 5.46, 48
Matthew 6.1-9, 15, 30-33
Matthew 7.6-7, 12
Matthew 9.6, 9
Matthew 11.1-6, 29, 37
Matthew 13.3-13, 31-32
Matthew 14.1
Matthew 15.10-28
Matthew 16.13-16
Matthew 17.19-20
Matthew 18.16, 20, 31-34
Matthew 20.1-16
Matthew 21.13, 31-34
Matthew 23.2-3, 23
Matthew 24.35
Matthew 25.1-13
Matthew 27.51
Matthew 28.39
Mark 1:16–20
Mark 2.5
Mark 4.3-13
Mark 5.24-34
Mark 6.3
Mark 7.24-30
Mark 10.18
Mark 11.17
Mark 13.31
Mark 15.38
Luke 1.1-4, 71-74
Luke 2.19-20, 25-38
Luke 4.24
Luke 5.1-11
Luke 6.10, 31, 46-49
Luke 7.35-50
Luke 8.1-3, 5ff
Luke 10.1-20, 25-37
Luke 11.1-2, 13
Luke 12.1, 15-21, 32
Luke 13.28-29
Luke 14.15-24
Luke 15.1-32
Luke 18.1-14
Luke 19:10, 46
Luke 21.33
Luke 23.34
John 1.35-42
John 2
John 3.16
John 4.1-31
John 5.19
John 6.63
John 7.37-43
John 8.1-18, 31-32
John 12.49
John 17.17
John 19.26-27
Acts 6.9
Acts 7.26-27, .35
Acts 10.1-28
Acts 16.14-15
Acts 18.26
Acts 20.35
Romans 3.23
Romans 5.10
Romans 7.13-20
Romans 10.9-13, 17
Romans 12.1-2
Romans 14.17
Romans 16.1, 7
1 Corinthians 7.10-11
1 Corinthians 9.14, 24
1 Corinthians 10.17
1 Corinthians 11.23-26
1 Corinthians 12.7-9
1 Corinthian 14.13-16, 29
1 Corinthians 15.3-7
2 Corinthians 12.10
2 Corinthians 13.1
Galatians 2.20-21
Galatians 3.1-10, 28
Galatians 5.22-23
Colossians 1.15
1 Thessalonians 4.3
1 Thessalonians 5.18
1 Timothy 1.8
1 Timothy 2.4-5
1 Timothy 5.19
Hebrews 7.7, 25
Hebrews 10.28
Hebrews 11.1, 11, 31,
Hebrews 12.2, 15
James 1.2-6, 13
1 John 3.1
1 John 5.4
Revelation 1.17
Revelation 21.4
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